Phantom Zone
by deanine
Summary: Vlad wants the one thing he can't have, Jack's family and his life. When his latest plan to steal what he wants goes horribly wrong, will Danny survive the consequences?
1. On the Brink

**Phantom Zone**

**Chapter 1 - On the Brink**

**Continuity:** Canon compliant through season two. Set when Danny is seventeen.

* * *

A deceptively small gun lay open in three pieces. Jack brandished his smelting pencil and tweaked the design of his latest masterwork. The rest of the world was complicated and hard to follow, but the lovely circuits of his gadgets made sense. Unintelligible shouting crept in on his invention space, and Jack pushed up his welding mask to see what was going on. 

"I don't care if the Box Ghost is tormenting the guys at the UPS store, you have to finish your college applications, before the deadline this week. I will put you in a Fenton Thermos with them if you make me," Jazz lectured.

"A ghost at the UPS store?" Jack cried. He slipped the three parts of his new weapon back together. "This is the perfect opportunity to try out my new invention, the Fenton Finisher!"

"Great Dad," Danny said. As soon as Jack was out of sight, he elbowed Jazz. "You need to watch what you say when there are people around. If that had been Mom, she might have noticed the implied ghost hunting, genius sister mine."

"Sorry, being away at Cornell so much of the time, I'm just not used to the minefield of your life anymore," Jazz said. "If you want to go to college and get out of this house a little, you have to finish these." Jazz fanned out the applications and waved them. "I won't be here to push you after spring break."

Danny snatched them out of her hand. Jazz wasn't taller than him anymore. He'd shot up over the last year and he was nearly as tall as his dad these days. He had filled out in other ways too. The fine sinewy muscles honed by constant ghost battles had elevated him from scrawny to somewhat less than buff. He was going to be a heartbreaker, if he could stop with the ghost fighting long enough to have a life, Jazz thought.

"Fine, I'll finish them tonight, promise." Applications firmly in hand, Danny headed for the stairs. Hunting ghosts was so much simpler than real life anymore. Tucker and Sam had chosen different schools far removed from Amity Park, and Danny was sorely tempted to follow them. How could he leave his hometown in his parents' hands though? Sure, Mom had skills, but Dad could barely be trusted to handle the Box Ghost, much less the Fright Night or worse. As depressing as Amity Community College sounded, Danny pushed that application to the top. He had responsibilities and college wasn't a good enough excuse to leave them behind.

* * *

A fire crackled low in the pristine gray marble fireplace, chasing the early spring chill from the room. Vlad Masters sat quietly at his roll-top desk and put the finishing touches on his letter. A ghost bug hovered at his shoulder. Vlad folded his letter into neat thirds and slipped it into the bug's sticky fingers. "Deliver this to Jack Fenton, not Maddie, not Jasmine, and most definitely not Daniel." The bug buzzed affirmatively and flew away. 

For years he had been trying to find his way back into Maddie's life, to claim the family that was meant to be his. Time had slipped away. Daniel and Jasmine were nearly grown now, not that he ever had any real attachment to Jasmine. Daniel had been different. He bore the same scars of Jack Fenton's obsession. What relation they lacked in blood, they made up for in experience and pain.

Somehow, that bond of experience had never translated into the mentoring, father-like relationship, Vlad had tried on more than one occasion to establish. A relationship with Daniel would have been a road to Maddie after Jack was removed from the picture.

Vlad sighed and massaged his temples. Lately he had come to think that killing Jack wouldn't ever really satisfy him. He needed Maddie to reject him as thoroughly as she'd rejected Vlad himself.

Finding a way to end their love took careful planning, and there were risks to the endeavor, but Maddie had always been worth every risk.

And this plan was going to work.

* * *

"She works hard for her money!" Maddie danced her way around the kitchen, a pair of iPod earbuds securely in place. "So hard for her money. She works hard for her money so you better treat her right." 

Moving with quick efficient grace, she set the table, took the roast out of the oven, and ended with a lovely 80's style boogie down that any member of Wham would have been proud of. She popped her earbuds out and sighed. "Danny! Jazz! Jack, dear! Dinner is ready!"

Jazz then Danny took their seats at the table, but Jack, usually the first to arrive, was notably absent. "Is your father still down in the lab?" Maddie asked. "I can go get him."

"Actually I think he went after a ghost at the UPS store." Danny checked his watch. "It's been over two hours since he left."

"He went after a ghost without me?" Maddie frowned and pulled the hood up on her blue haz-mat suit. "I'm going to go check on him."

The front door opened and closed with a slam. "Sugar plum, I'm home!" Jack strode forward into the kitchen, the small weapon from earlier smoking in his hand. "The Fenton Finisher works great. That pesky spirit won't be harassing any more postal employees."

"Wonderful then." Maddie pulled her hood down and smiled warmly. "Lets have dinner."

Danny stared at the small smoking weapon, while his dad attacked the roast. He was curious about how it functioned. It paid to know what his parents' arsenal could do since they tended to turn it on him at the most inopportune moments. "What does the Fenton Finisher do anyway?"

"Yeah," Jazz echoed. "It's a bit of a strong name."

Maddie smiled at Jack, who was entirely to busy with his meal to answer. "Well dear, the Fenton Finisher pulls a ghost apart, molecule by molecule. It simultaneously rips a hole through reality and the ghost zone to the next level of realm."

"The Phantom Zone!" Jack declared between bites.

"Exactly dear. The ghost is drawn into the Phantom Zone where it can then slowly reconstitute itself. But after the dematerialization it should be rather disoriented and two whole dimensions removed from our world. It's meant to slow some of the repeat ghost business we see all the time."

Danny stared, open-mouthed. "That's extreme."

"It's efficient!" Maddie said. "Now eat your dinner while it's warm"

* * *

Upstairs in his room, Danny settled in front of the computer to see if Sam or Tucker were online, but his buddy list was empty except for the GHOSTH8R, Valerie. He considered IMing her but he closed his buddy list and moved on to the phone. He really needed to talk to someone who knew about his secrets and could commiserate with his full compliment of problems tonight. 

He snatched up his phone, but before he got a chance to decide between Sam and Tucker his door creaked open. "Yes Jazz?"

"Hey little brother. I need to talk to you about something." Jazz slipped inside and shut the door securely. "Have you considered that maybe it's time you told Mom and Dad about Danny Phantom? I mean, just think about Dad's newest toy. Not telling them is dangerous. I think they'd understand. There is more to them than you give them credit for sometimes."

"I know they'd still love me, Jazz. I like having parents, not researchers who want to dissect me but can't quite because I'm their son."

"Just think about it." Jazz leaned in for a quick hug. "I worry about you all the time."

"You shouldn't worry. I'm rather good at the ghost hunting stuff at this point, and avoiding our parents has always been the easy part."

* * *

Author's Note: 

I'm nursing an irrational Danny Phantom obsession. This fic is supposed to exorcise me. Romantically I'm a fence sitter. I haven't decided who belongs with who.


	2. Slightly Askew

**Chapter 2 – Slightly Askew**

Vlad rose, no longer a neatly coifed human. Wearing his ghost form like armor, he approached his allies. The Fright Knight, glowed with pent energy and menace. Skulker, by far the weaker of the two, stood straight as though he didn't realize how outmatched he was in the room. "Between the two of you, you need to draw out Danny Phantom. Keep him busy. Keep his energy low. Don't let him rest. Don't let him breathe."

"Should we eliminate him then?" Skulker asked, a gleeful sparkle in his eye.

"As if you could eliminate him. How long have you been trying?" Plasmius laughed. "Be sure to keep your stealth belts in place. They will make you invisible but tangible without any added mental effort. It will make your battle much easier."

* * *

Casper High looked different as a senior. Danny settled his lunch tray between Sam and Tucker, secure in his position on the food chain. There were freshman and sophomores who were easy prey for the bullies looking for some fun. It had been more than a year since his last real bullying incident. Danny didn't miss his regular trips into his locker, but he felt bad for the new guys going through that rite of passage.

"Okay Danny, have you picked your number one college choice yet?" Sam opened a college brochure and smiled like a saleswoman. "Berkley is going to be fun."

"Stop trying to convince him to waste his life on that liberal arts haven when he has a friend attending MIT." Tucker pulled another brochure up on his new palm pilot.

"Guys, I've picked my college and I'm not going to Berkley or MIT or anywhere. I'm going to Amity Community College." Resolved not to betray how depressed that made him, Danny dug into his goulash.

"Community college?" Sam frowned. "You can't spend your whole life in Amity Park keeping things together. At some point you have to let go and trust your parents and the other adults to handle things."

"Did I say anything about sticking around to keep things together? ACC has some interesting programs and it's a bargain compared to a four year university." Sam frowned darkly at him and Tucker's eyebrows were headed for his hairline. "Fine, I'm sticking around to keep an eye on the ghost portal and my parents and this town. It's my responsibility."

"You know what else this is? This is your life, and if you never do what you need to do to become what you want, how are you ever going to be happy? NASA looks for overachievers, the best. You're never going to make it there if you don't get out of this town and fight for it." Sam folded her brochure up and stuffed it back in her bag.

"She's right you know," Tucker said.

"Maybe NASA just isn't part of my future. Stop pressuring me. You're worse than Jazz. 'I want to be an astronaut' is a kid's answer to what you want to be when you grow up. It isn't what real people become. I've already got a career. I just need to figure out what to do to make money while I'm doing it."

"Really, well if that's all, I hear they're hiring at the Nasty Burger. Why waste your time with community college?" Sam snapped.

"I've lost my appetite." Danny dropped his fork back onto his tray with a clatter. "Why can't you just be supportive? You're my friend not my mother."

Sam watched Danny on his angry walk to the trash line and then out of the cafeteria. "I get accused of being his mother for noticing that he's throwing his life away, when I doubt either of his parents have even noticed he's a senior and making life altering decisions."

"They can be oblivious, but when they realize something is going on, they are good parents." Tucker smiled slyly. "Maybe someone should remind his parents that Danny is a senior and that they might want to ask him some questions about his future?"

"That's manipulative, deceptive, and less than honorable," Sam replied. "And it might work."

* * *

"Jack honey, could I bother you for a moment?" Maddie settled on the opposite side of her husband's workbench. "Do you think you might be up for taking the afternoon off? Jazz has a pair of coupons to a day spa that are good for today only. She asked me, but it really isn't my thing." She shuddered. "I don't want anyone touching my toenails, thank you very much."

"A day spa! Absolutely!" Jack put aside his tools and raced upstairs where Jazz was waiting. "When do we leave?"

With a long suffering sigh, Jazz glanced at her watch. "We leave as soon as you manage to change into some street clothes. No haz-mat suits at the spa. I'm pushing things bringing my dad with a mother-daughter coupon as it is."

"Aw, do I have to?" Jack mumbled.

"If you want to come with me, yes you do."

"Facial mask and an afternoon without my haz-mat suit; pedicure and an afternoon without my haz-mat suit; shampoo, fluff, style and an afternoon without my haz-mat suit..." Jack bit his lip then nodded. "I'll go change."

* * *

A ghost bug, zoomed through the Fenton's home looking for its target, Jack Fenton. Up and down the levels it buzzed, but its target wasn't there. Not Maddie, an image flashed in it's tiny bug memory, not Jasmine and not Daniel. Jack. Jack. Jack. Jack. Jack! Relieved, the bug dropped it's letter on a large emblem on a red cylinder that bore Jack's face.

* * *

Kids flowed out of Casper High, some heading for the buses and others for the parking lot. One amongst the group had no plans to ride the bus or drive. Normally he hitched a ride with Sam these days. Her black vintage Mustang was simple proof that her parents weren't the worst or most annoying in Amity Park, no matter how she might rail about them. Sure she had to spend the weekend of the Manson family reunion in pink frills before they'd buy it, but that wasn't much of a price compared to the reward.

After all the lecturing lately, Danny felt like a solitary, intangible flight home. Not that he ever got what he wanted lately. Tucker and his distinctive beret were unmistakably on his tail.

"Hey Danny, wait up," Tucker called. "I take it you aren't riding home with Sam."

"Nope." Danny kept moving, leaving it to Tucker to catch up in the crowd if he really wanted to talk.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Tucker squeeze through a small pack of sophomore girls and fell into step beside his friend.

"Only if you aren't going to scold me or tell me what to do."

"I was just going to ask if you had any plans for the weekend. My parents are flying out to visit our Aunt Ruth so I've got the house to myself. I thought we could have a mini-party, just you, me, Sam, and maybe a couple of other people."

"Really?" Danny smiled. "That has potential. How many people are a couple?"

"Oh I don't know, less than twenty and more than five?" Tucker held up a hand and started listing people. "Jerry, Paulina, Rita, Susan—"

"Valerie," Danny interjected.

"If you insist, Valerie." Tucker's grin widened. "It will be a great opportunity for pre-prom planning. We can get a look at the field and try to start homing in on our perfect date." He pulled out his palm pilot and started scrolling through a file labeled top prospects. "Have you compiled a comprehensive list yet?"

"Prom isn't for months. And I don't need a list. I'll ask someone when the right moment presents itself."

"Are you sure you want to go down that road?" Tucker asked. "I mean technically you haven't managed to have a girlfriend that wasn't being overshadowed by a ghost in over three years."

Danny frowned and started a mental list. There was Paulina, one of the most beautiful girls in their class. If he was willing to ask her as Danny Phantom she was bound to say yes, but she had no great love for Danny Fenton. Of course, his infatuation with her had become less pronounced as time moved forward, and he realized how boring dating perfect skin could be. Aside from nice skin and a symmetrical face, there really wasn't a lot else to her. Valerie on the other hand was beautiful with a personality worth getting to know. If her interests didn't run so strongly to his eventual annihilation, they might already be dating. There were other girls in the senior class, pretty girls and beautiful girls, but none of the others had ever sparked his interest. He'd probably ask Valerie.

"I wonder who Sam has on her list?" Tucker asked. "There aren't a lot of goth options in our class. I guess she might bring Jacob, that junior. He likes her."

Danny felt his heart jump and his cheeks colored at the thought of Sam with the pasty, nose-ring-wearing Jacob. "Since when does he like her? Have they gone out?"

"Actually they have, a couple of times." Tucker sighed dramatically. "Goth love, it's very understated. You have to pay attention or you can miss the signs."

Love? Danny stopped walking, unsure why Sam having a shot at some romance made him so…annoyed. "Well, good for her. I hope they're very happy together."

Tucker cast a sly look at Danny and muttered under his breath, "No you don't, Captain Oblivious."

* * *

Finally, at long last, the house was going to be clean. An entire day with no one at home had given her a chance to dig in and clean like she rarely got the chance. Taking her Fenton Duster, she set to removing the fine layer of dust that lay over so many surfaces, particularly in the lab. She cleaned the Fenton Generator, the Fenton Freezer, and the Specter Detector, before she came across a crisp, clean letter sitting atop the Fenton Fire Extinguisher.

"How strange," Maddie said. She unfolded the letter and started to read.

* * *

Author's Note:

This is not being betaed. I am writing on the fly so feel free to correct my errors. I know they're in there. I tend to write in an ever-shifting third person perspective. Hopefully it's not too confusing. Writing these short (less than 2000 word) chapters in a story that lacks the layers I tend to get caught up in, is fun and relaxing. I suspect this will be less than ten chapters when finished, and I hope to have it finished fairly quickly.

Peace!


	3. Dance Dance

**Chapter 3 - Dance Dance**

Reading through the letter again and again, Maddie's entire demeanor changed. A moment earlier she had been a happy go lucky woman about to achieve house-cleaning nirvana. Her eyes went hard and her lips drew out in a firm, angry line. She let the letter flutter to the ground, and pulled up her haz-mat hood.

With cold efficiency she loaded her suit with the best of the Fenton Arsenal. House cleaning could come later, when she knew everyone was safe. There was a ghost she had to hunt to keep her family safe.

It was a mission she was well equipped for mentally and physically. And thankfully, Jack was away for the day. As much as she loved him, serious ghost hunting was simpler on her own.

* * *

Lying on Tucker's neatly made bed, Danny stared at the plain white ceiling and thought about his own room. Glow in the dark stars still decorated the ceiling, and a NASA poster still dominated the area over his desk. When he got home, he needed to redecorate, something that reflected enthusiasm for Amity Community College. Their mascot was a Boll Weevil or a Bull Mastiff or something. If he projected the face of excitement for community college long enough, maybe he'd start to feel some?

The unmistakable purr of Sam's car rumbled through the open window and Tucker sighed dramatically. "Finally, my double burger. I told her to get an extra in case you were hungry," he added.

"I'm not hungry, and I hope you aren't either. Do you really thing Sam bought you an actual Double Nasty Burger? I thought you learned your lesson the last time you had her call in a pizza order?" Danny turned his head just far enough that he could see the bedroom door, but it wouldn't be obvious to Sam that he was watching her enter.

Today she had braided her hair into neat black cornrows. A rich purple sweater covered her black t-shirt and jeans. That was a nice sweater, Danny thought. It hugged her understated curves and stopped mid-forearm leaving her delicately tapered wrists out to torment sophomore goths like Jacob with their creamy perfection. Danny narrowed his eyes. Tucker was right. Sam didn't wear nice sweaters for no reason. Goth love _was_ in the air.

"Okay boys, I have burgers for everyone." Sam tossed neatly wrapped green packages at each of her best friends.

"Nasty Burgers are wrapped in red foil." Tucker stared at the green package as though it might attack him. "You brought veggie burgers? You're trying to kill me."

"Trust me, reducing the processed meat in your diet is only going to lengthen your life." Sam plopped down onto Tucker's desk chair and dug into her veggie burger." She gestured vaguely. "Party plan, progress?"

"Chew and then talk," Danny said with a disgusted eye roll. He tossed his burger into the wastebasket. "We've been putting together the guest list. Tucker thinks this is our best opportunity to choose dates for prom. What do you think? Who should we add to the list for you?" Sam kept chewing and shrugged. "Prom isn't for months. I'd rather just party personally."

"Both of you are going to end up dateless and alone," Tucker predicted.

"If we both end up dateless and alone, we'll just go together, right?" Danny said flippantly, but he watched Sam out of the corner of his eye. She had stopped chewing altogether.

"That's what friends are for," Sam agreed, equally flip.

A smile crept over Danny's face. He and Sam were officially contingency prom dates. Maybe goth love wasn't really springing up between her and the sophomore? Danny opened his mouth to expand on the pseudo-plans they'd just made, but a reflexive gasp of white mist spilled out instead of words. "We've got a ghost nearby." Danny rolled off the bed and stuck his head out the window looking for the disturbance.

No ghosts were obviously lurking about, but a ball of gold energy coming at his head from somewhere in the vicinity of the neighbors' hydrangea bush seemed a bit suspicious. "Incoming!" Without hesitating, Danny switched forms. If he acted quickly, property damage could be kept to a minimum and their weekend plans wouldn't be affected. Projecting an energy shield over the window, he deflected the blast.

"Be careful!" Sam called. She watched Danny dive out the window, a familiar nervous flutter in her chest. You'd think after all this time she wouldn't worry so much anymore. Danny could take care of himself out there. Tucker pulled a Fenton Thermos out of his backpack and headed for the stairs, Sam at his heels. Danny would probably have the situation in hand before they even made it outside, but you never knew when a well-timed thermos catch could make things much easier.

* * *

Tying the drawstring on his bright orange boxers, Jack settled next to Jazz beside the pool. For most of the day, they'd been separated into the men's and ladies' sections of the spa. But finally he'd have a few minutes with his little girl to talk and bond. She was majoring in psychology, a short step from parapsychology if you asked him. Parents weren't supposed to play favorites, but Jazz had always been his girl the same way Danny was Maddie's.

Without looking up from the book she was reading, Jazz greeted him, "Hey Dad, enjoy yourself?"

"Absolutely," Jack said. "The hot mud bath opened my pores and let my skin breathe. We should do this more often."

"We can't afford this more often. It's seven hundred dollars a day per person." Jazz sighed and closed her book. "Ghost hunting doesn't really pay, at all, and tuition doesn't grow on trees."

"Seven hundred dollars! That's highway robbery." Jack glared at a passing towel boy. "How did we come by the free passes anyway?"

"I won them in an honor society raffle. We're just lucky that Madam Joy's Happy Mud Club has a franchise in Amity Park." Jazz smiled, more at peace with her parents and family than she had been able to manage in high school. Distance made everything more bearable. If she could just get Danny to a place where she didn't have to stress over him and his secrets, life would be good. It was tempting to just tell her parents, take an intimate moment and spill the secret Danny was too scared to. But it wasn't her secret, and it wasn't her choice. "There's a great humus and fruit bar back there. Want to go have a snack"

* * *

Vlad folded his cell phone and tucked it securely into his jacket pocket. Everything was progressing according to plan. Maddie and Jazz had checked into the spa on schedule. Jack should already in possession of his letter. Phrasing that letter had been maybe the most difficult aspect of the entire scheme. It needed to be believable, but spoken so directly that Jack would understand easily and act on the contents. With Jack hunting and Maddie safely ensconced in a spa, everything was in place.

Closing his eyes, Vlad transformed into his ghost form, the rush of energy as familiar as anything in his life. Today was a new day, and everything was about to change.

* * *

Danny zipped about dodging ectoplasmic pulses that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. This was insane. Yes, fighting invisible enemies was part of ghost wrangling. All ghosts from the Lunch Lady to the Fright Knight could vanish at will, but like any ghost ability, invisibility required effort, energy, and most ghosts couldn't keep it up when they were multitasking. Another volley of blasts rained down from above without the attacking ghost showing himself at all.

None of his usual foes could manage this kind of dual attack. Aggressive blasting while invisible wasn't like chewing gum and walking. This had to be someone new. Danny managed not to get blasted into the turf and spun to shout back toward the direction of the last volley. "What do you want, whoever you are? Show yourself!"

A muffled laugh alerted him to the next barrage of enemy fire. He tossed a couple of green blasts in the general direction that his opponent seemed to be and flew for cover. Tucker and Sam were just visible lurking in the bushes. Tucker had a Fenton Thermos at the ready, waiting for something to fire it at. They were entirely too exposed, and he had no idea what he was dealing with. But Danny didn't have any time to shoo them to safety. He was still under fire.

The blasts were coming from so many directions all at once. There had to be multiple ghosts? Or maybe this was Technus with a gadget? Whatever was going on, he needed to get Sam and Tucker out of the line of fire. As the enemy, whatever it was, seemed to be focused on him, Danny started dodging with the goal of escaping the general area and leaving his friends behind.

Hopefully they'd take a hint and not follow.

* * *

Vlad hovered just out of the heat of battle and watched Daniel soar through the air dodging energy blasts. Graceful and fast, there was nothing of his father in him.

Not a thing.

A simple gun, an energy weapon, rested in his hand lighter than a feather. Completely at peace, Vlad waited for Jack to make his loud ineffectual entrance. It was only a matter of time. Then while Danny was trying to deal with his invisible enemies and his father's wild shots, that wisp of a weapon would change everything. One sure shot and they would find out how the maiming of a child could damage a marriage.

His eyes drifted shut and Vlad imagined the future.

_Maddie stands at the sink, washing dishes. She works with quiet, determine efficiency, no smile on her face. She no longer wears her usual hazmat suit because she isn't a ghost hunter anymore, not since the day her husband successfully hunted their son._

_Leaving the dishes in the drain to drip dry she passes through the kitchen, a space no longer cluttered with ghost catching gadgets or her husband's snack foods._

_Ex, Maddie tells herself. She has to start thinking of Jack as her ex-husband. If she can't assign him the appropriate roll, how can she expect him to take that roll and stop trying to fix things? If he ever loved her, he would have given up ghost hunting after the accident like she'd asked._

_If he loved Danny, he would never have been able to lift another ghost weapon._

_Maddie climbs the stairs and enters her son's bedroom. She tries to keep it the same. A NASA poster still hangs over a too-messy desktop, but the floor is too clean. No jeans or socks fail to make it to the hamper anymore, no novels leave the bookshelves to travel around the room, and no half-eaten snacks find there way under the bed._

_The vibrant teenager that used to demolish his room daily lies unmoving under his covers. His eyelashes don't quiver and his eyes don't open at his mother's entrance._

_"Good morning, Danny," Maddie says, a forced chipper note to match a painful smile. "We're going to do your range of motion exercises first thing and then we'll have breakfast."_

_Her routine is interrupted by the doorbell, and Maddie calmly walks down to deal with whoever it might be. She only hopes it isn't Jack. She can't face him again so soon since the last time. It isn't Jack or Jazz or any friend of Danny's. "Hello Vlad." Maddie doesn't open the door all the way. Vlad was Jack's friend and he had expressed interest in her. She didn't need a cheap come on, or an expensive one for that matter._

_"I know you probably don't want another well-wishing visitor, especially a complicated one like me, but I had to come. I had to come because I know that your son is a half-ghost. I know some of what happened to him. And I know more about the physiology of half-ghosts than anyone else in the world."_

_Maddie's eyes widen. She and Jack didn't make Danny's condition public. The risk of interference from the government or the Ghost Boy's enemies was just too great. Yet somehow Vlad Masters knows. "How do you know? How could you know about half-ghost physiology? Unless...did Danny tell you? Were you his confidant? Do you think you can help him?"_

_"It's complicated. I did discover Daniel's secret, and he knew mine. I don't want to give you false hope, but I'd like to tell you everything, and I want to try to help." _

With a jerk, Vlad's eyes opened and he refocused on the battle. It was too close now to let himself get distracted. He could daydream about the future while he was waiting for Jack to finish breaking Maddie's heart.

What was taking Jack so long? Vlad groaned internally. The ghost bug had unquestionable loyalty, but limited intelligence. What if it failed to deliver the letter? Or what if Jack failed to respond as he expected? The problem with complex plans, one small thing goes wrong and everything shifts. He would just have to make sure Jack had received the letter and maybe help him locate the conspicuous battle he hadn't yet found.

Before Vlad could leave to locate Jack, a new player entered the battle. It wasn't a loud entrance with shouted declarations and an orange hazmat suit. A trained ninja on the prowl, she had attacked before anyone knew she was even there. A bolt of red energy flashed into the battle coming from a new angle. It struck, and Daniel screamed.

"Maddie?" Vlad whispered. "No." Maddie was supposed to be with Jasmine. He confirmed their arrival at the spa. Jack was supposed to be here to take the fall for the blast that Vlad was going to shoot, creating a crisis that only he could fix.

Competant where he husband was useless, Maddie had already successfully attacked her son. He expected Daniel to fall, perhaps even transform back to his latent form, but he didn't fall. The red glow encased him, twisted and shimmered, and Daniel vanished.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Okay so I've been thinking about pointless things like casting a Danny Phantom live action for this fic. The casting list so far:

-Jack - John Goodman

-Maddie - Joan Cussack

-Danny - Jake Gyllenhal ( a touch old I know but this is a fantasy casting anyhow)

-Vlad - Eric Roberts

-Jazz - Julia Stiles (a touch old again, but I just think about 10 things I Hate About You and I want her)

-Tucker - Sam Jones III

-Sam - Elisabeth Oas

And as for the chapter, it's not quite a cliffhanger, really.


	4. The Calm Before

**The Calm Before -- Chapter 4**

Tucker raced forward, following the sounds of ectoplasmic explosions. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Ghosts were inconvenient, often violent facts of life in Amity Park. But nothing else in the world could get his heart pumping like a good ghost encounter. Life was going to be different next year. There would be college girls and new toys. But Danny and his ghosts were staying behind. _I'm going to miss this_, Tucker thought ruefully. Of course, he wouldn't miss it enough to pass on the hot MIT coeds.

"Crap," Sam hissed. She grabbed him by the arm and jerked him back. "I think Danny got thermosed. Mrs. Fenton ten o'clock."

Tucker nodded, following Sam's line of sight. After years of supporting Danny's double life, they had developed strategies for dealing with common problems. Getting sealed in a Fenton Thermos by his mother happened often enough, that they had an entire contingency flow chart. "Great. I wish he would just tell his parents already. He's probably sealed up in there with whatever was trying to kick his tail, getting pounded on. And when we go to try and get him out, we'll just end up letting everyone out. Danny will spend the whole weekend ghost fighting and none of us will get a chance to party properly as planned."

"Stop bellyaching and get Mrs. Fenton's attention. I'll grab her thermos. The weekend isn't ruined yet."

Getting Mrs. Fenton's attention barely required a half-hearted wave. She sprinted their way, still moving with the efficient professionalism of a ghost hunter on the prowl. Tucker smiled his most genuine fake-grin. "Mrs. Fenton, lovely afternoon isn't it."

"Except for the ghosts," Maddie said. "But that's been handled for the moment. Is Danny with you two?"

"Danny...Danny has detention," Tucker lied smoothly.

"Really?" Instead of the frown one might expect upon hearing that her son was in trouble at school, Mrs. Fenton smiled. "Safely in detention, good."

Sam poked Tucker surreptitiously, silently informing him that she had successfully pilfered the thermos. "We just thought we'd say hello, before heading home to do our homework, lots of homework, Geometry and Literature and stuff," Tucker said. "Right Sam?"

"Lots to do," Sam agreed. She stuffed the stolen thermos securely into Tucker's satchel and waved. "See you Mrs. F."

Teenagers were such a strange breed, and her son's friends were a peculiar pair. Maddie shook her head at the two kids rushing away. Ah well, at least Danny hadn't fallen in with a boring crowd. Aside from a brief stint in Pee Wee soccer, Danny had never played a sport or fallen in with any of the group activities most teens defined themselves with. He wasn't a band geek or a jock. He wasn't an overachiever or a delinquent. Just a Fenton, Maddie thought with a smile. She mounted her custom fitted Ghost Hunting Moped and hit the road for Casper High. Danny was almost certainly fine and bored in detention, but she needed to confirm that assessment.

The letter in her hip pocket, a courtesy communication from the Guys in White, required that she see her son in person and confirm that he was fine.

_Dear Dr. Fenton,_

_Communications between our agency and a private ghost hunting organization are strictly against policy. I am sending this letter as a man and a father, not as a secret government agent. According to data that we have compiled in studying the movements of the Ghost Boy of your town, he is stalking a biologic entity, your son, Danny Fenton._

_Sending this letter is of itself treason. Sending you my own data isn't possible. Check your data on his movements and I think you'll notice the same patterns. Your son is at risk. Be on guard._

_Sincerely,_

_X_

The ghost boy had been a recurring menace by virtue of his existence and an enemy of the Fenton clan by virtue of his nature. Making enemies of ghosts could be dangerous, but she and Jack had been lucky. The ghosts rarely targeted the family in a broad sense, and as far as she could tell, they hadn't ever targeted her children until recently. The threat implied by the letter had roused the mother bear in her.

The creepy ghost stalker, Danny Phantom, could server as an example to all the local spooks. Taking any interest in either of her children would be hazardous to their health.

* * *

The Fenton thermos sat on the grass quiet and dead, an emblem of Jack Fenton smiling madly. No ghosts, half-human or otherwise, had burst free when the latch released. Tucker cast an exasperated look at Sam. "Looks like Mrs. F. was packing a spare and we got the cold one."

"Looks like," Sam agreed. The weekend was officially ruined. Depending on where Danny landed in the Ghost zone when his mom dumped him there, he could be days working his way out. It had happened before. "I supposed we should make sure the portal is open for him."

"Yeah, I'm so glad you have a car, no more emergency-pedaling to the Fentons." Tucker scooped up the empty thermos and fell in step beside Sam. "Next year I'll have a car too, you know. And there are no ghosts at MIT, amen."

"There would be one ghost if Danny went to MIT." Sam smirked. "Not that he's planning to go anywhere."

"He'll go somewhere, probably follow you to that liberal arts haven of yours," Tucker groused. "For the record, I don't want either of you calling me for a computer fix when your roommate spills their beer bong on your defenseless laptops."

"You are such a drama nerd sometimes," Sam said with smile. She wouldn't dare say it out of the context of friendly sparring, but she really hoped Tucker was right and that Danny did follow her to college. It would be a statement, a commitment of sorts to her way of thinking. Of course, getting his head out of the sand and into the market for a real future was step number one. Step two, figuring out where in the world he wanted to be besides Amity Park, that would be up to Danny.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Yes, I've been away. But I'm back.

Peace.


	5. Assumptions

**Chapter 5 – Assumptions**

Dematerialization was not a kind or gentle activity. Jack Fenton often spoke of ripping specters apart, molecule by molecule with no concept of exactly how unpleasant if could be to have one's essence torn and scattered. Danny might have described the experience to his father if he ever had the chance. There was a sensation of ripping, of losing, as the pieces of his mind, body, and soul flew away in a mushroom cloud of pain and oblivion that bore the pieces of him through the line between the worlds, impenetrable, yet incredibly thin walls never meant to be crossed lightly. Like feathers tossed to the wind, the echoing particles, reverberations of electrical whispers that once made up his memories flooded into a new world.

As Jack Fenton had posited, his new weapon dematerialized a ghost in a violent manner, leaving it without consciousness or form. He assumed quite correctly that a ghost would eventually reform, its constituent parts drawn together by inescapable ectoplasmic magnetism. How long would rematerialization take? Impossible to even guess, not knowing the nature of the new realm or the distances over which the ghost would be scattered. But it _would_ come back together eventually, fundamentally undamaged though probably a bit disoriented.

When Jack designed theories about ghosts, he almost never guessed wrong. Ghost were his life's mission, his life's work. Unfortunately for his son, if you asked Jack what his new weapon would do to a ghost hybrid, he wouldn't be able to tell you.

He had never even considered the possibility of a hybrid's existence.

* * *

Home from the spa less than an hour and Jack was back in his lap tinkering loudly enough that Jazz could hear him banging about from her bedroom. A large psychology text lay open in front of her, but she wasn't reading at the moment. Her notebook in front of her, she scribbled a theory that had been floating around in her head for weeks. Being home had crystallized her need to write the concept down. 

_**Fundamentals of Ghost Psychology**_

_Ghosts or ectoplasmic remnants of formerly living people (rarely animals), manifest as monochromatic pseudo-substantial entities. Their personalities are shallow reflections of a human personality, one dimensional and almost universally compulsive. _

_**Example:** The "box ghost" haunts only areas rich in boxes. He is affectionate toward boxes and violent toward anything that threatens his focal obsession. _

_All ghosts exhibit similar limited interests and focus. Based on their psychological shallowness and their apparent inability to expand their focus, these echoes of human personalities can linger in the ghost zone or living world indefinitely. _

_Current ghost management practices involve isolation of ghosts that have invaded the living world and their expulsion into the ghost zone. Ghosts compulsively seek the living world and their obsessions and eventually return. A more permanent alternative might be a technique I have whimsically dubbed exorcism. Using basic counseling techniques, a ghost's compulsion can be reduced and the existential echo eventually eliminated._

Jazz stopped writing and stared at the theory like it held the plague. She was not going to college to end up ghost chasing with her parents. She planned to be a psychiatrist, successful, ghost-free, normal. But she still found herself thinking about ghosts.

Who was she kidding? Her brother was a hybrid-ghost/ghostbuster; how could she leave ghosts behind when he was so fundamentally mired in them? She would be abandoning him, and she was the only member of his family that even KNEW what he was dealing with.

"How does your ghost nature affect you?" Jazz stared at the wall between her and Danny's room. His ghost nature had its' own obsessive compulsion. Danny Phantom fought ghosts. Every year it became more of who he was, peripheral distractions vanishing. He didn't date, didn't plan to go to college. Danny wasn't the same guy he used to be. He was becoming Danny Phantom and losing the Fenton.

Jazz stared at her theory of ghost psychology, thinking nervously about ghost-hybrid psychology and worrying about her brother. She had to talk Danny into telling their parents about his condition. She wasn't equipped to deal with it on her own, not since she had begun to suspect that it was changing him. If they didn't do anything, he could conceivably end up some twisted, shallow imitation of a complete human.

It had happened to Vlad.

* * *

Maddie stood in front of Casper High, hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Contrary to Tucker's assurance, Danny was not in detention this afternoon. If he wasn't in detention and he wasn't with his friends, where could he be? He might be at home, or maybe even with a girl. Maddie smiled at that thought. He was old enough to have a girl. She just wanted to make sure he wasn't in trouble. 

With a resigned sigh she headed down the front steps and mounted her bike. He was probably at home and she would look for him there first.

* * *

Sam pushed the Fenton's doorbell and smiled at Tucker. "At least Jazz is home. Getting into the lab will take less breaking and entering." 

"Talk to me about the bright side later, okay?" Tucker pushed the bell again as soon as Sam let it go. "And don't bother telling me it's rude to lay on the bell."

The door had begun to open while Tucker was talking and Jasmine smirked at the two teens on the front porch. "It is rude to lay on the bell. Can I help you two?"

"Yeah, you can." Sam shoved Tucker's finger off the doorbell. "Your mother successfully stalked Danny again."

"Her and her darned thermoses," Tucker grumbled.

"So Danny got thermosed by Mom again?" Jazz asked.

"At exactly the wrong moment," Tucker groaned. "There is a party planned for this weekend. Your mom is wrecking the whole situation. How often do my parents fly out to visit my aunt Ruth?"

"It is a shame to waste the empty house," Sam agreed. "We were going to head down and open the ghost portal to let Danny through."

Jazz nodded to Danny's friends and led the way to the lab. "I noticed that you have a couple of thermoses there yourselves. Need to dump some ghosts while we've got the zone open?"

"They're both empties," Sam said. "I stole this one from your mom, and Tucker just carries the other one in case of emergency. Of course I stole the wrong one."

"Our luck," Tucker sighed.

Jazz stopped abruptly and looked nervously at the thermoses Sam and Tucker were holding. "Did you see Mom put Danny in a thermos?"

"Some things can be inferred," Tucker said.

"I just spent the day at a spa with Dad. We talked about a lot of things, one of which being how the Fenton thermoses all seem to vanish or get destroyed. They only have two operational between them at the moment and Dad has had his all day. You stole mom's only thermos. I want you to back up and explain to me why you thought Danny had been thermosed. Exactly what happened?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ghost psychology is one concept that I've been thinking about a lot for this fandom. There have been some inconsistencies in how they've dealt with the "personality" of Danny's ghost self, independent of his human half. There was the episode where his ghost self was captain-amazing trying to save the world and then there was the episode/movie plot where his ghost self was pretty darned evil without the human lurking around. I've decided to go with my initial gut and the monochromatic ghost self that is more captain-amazing than captain-carnage, but I did think about both when conceptualizing this fic.


	6. In the Zone

Chapter 6 – In the Zone

Sam settled in at the Fenton's kitchen table and waited for Jazz and Tucker to join her. Since Jazz's exodus to college, these war councils had been quieter, a prelude to next year when Danny would be in Amity Park solo. They couldn't let that happen. It was too dangerous, trying to avoid his parents and fight ghosts. He needed support. As soon as they found him, they needed to get that through his thick head.

"Okay," Jazz said. "Danny was fighting an invisible ghost thing. Mom interrupted him. He and the invisible ghost thing are gone as far as we can tell."

"Based on past experience, that leaves a few likely possibilities. He ran afoul of the invisible ghost thing. Maybe he's in the Ghost Zone? Maybe he's invisible?" Tucker offered.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Jazz said. "We can't disregard Mom though. Dad has made some new toys that make me nervous. Maybe he's in the Ghost Zone and maybe he's invisible and maybe he's in the Phantom Zone."

"Phantom Zone? When did I get lost in a Superman comic?" Tucker asked with a snort.

"The folks would really like to make a more permanent ghost hunting solution. The newest push is banishing ghosts to a more difficult to escape zone, the plane of existence past the Ghost Zone. Dad, of course, had to name it something cute, the Phantom Zone. Their newest prototype sends ghosts there." Jazz twisted her hands together worriedly. "I've been pushing Danny to tell Mom and Dad everything. It's just too dangerous to keep hiding the truth. I mean, what if Mom used the Fenton Finisher on Danny and sent his to the Phantom Zone, a realm we know nothing about?"

"We have to tell the Fentons," Sam said. Sitting quietly, listening to the possibilities of things that could have happened to Danny, it seemed so obvious, so necessary. "As soon as we find Mrs. Fenton, we have to make sure she didn't use the new toy you were talking about, and then we make sure that she doesn't ever use it on Danny."

"Agreed," Jazz said quickly, surprised that Sam beat her to that declaration. She had assumed that Sam and Tucker would try to stop her from revealing all. "Any objections?" Both ladies turned to Tucker.

"Uh, yes, big huge objection here. This is Danny's secret. He knows what he's risking by keeping it. We don't get to take his secret away from him, however worried we are." Tucker crossed his arms over his chest. "The invisible ghost threat probably made him invisible and inaudible, and he's probably standing in the room with us screaming no, no, no, no, no."

"Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't. What happens next year when he's stuck in Amity Park trying to manage it all on his own?" Sam frowned. "Sometimes, you have to tell, to be a good friend."

A smiling woman in a blue hazmat suit appeared in the kitchen doorway. "Tell? Has someone gotten into trouble?" Her smile faded a degree when she realized that Sam and Tucker were not accompanied by Danny. What if that ghost had already harmed him before she got to it? "Where is Danny? He wasn't in detention, I checked."

Sam shot Tucker a pleading look, but he shook his head stubbornly. Could she really betray Danny by telling? Maybe Tucker was right. They still had time to convince Danny to tell his own secret. "I'm not really sure, Mrs. Fenton. We're waiting for him here," Sam said lamely.

Maddie sighed and pulled her Hazmat hood off. She settled onto the seat next to Jazz. "Kids, I don't want to worry you, but there has been a threat made against Danny. I handled the situation, I think before anything happened, but I need to find him to be sure. Please, just tell me where Danny is. Whatever he's up to, I promise not to ground him until after this weekend and whatever you have planned for the Foley's trip." She looked at the three teens hopefully. "Please."

"Someone made a threat against Danny?" Jazz asked. She exchanged meaningful looks with Sam and Tucker. The invisible ghost thing suddenly seemed entirely too important. "Who?"

"One of the Guys in White sent a courtesy letter. They crunched some data on the haunting patterns of Danny Phantom, and they're of the opinion that it has been stalking Danny. I need to make sure that Danny is fine now that Phantom is under control."

"Under control?" Jazz asked. "Let me guess, Fenton Finisher?"

"Yes, actually," Maddie said. "With any luck, we'll never see that ghost again."

* * *

Sticky wet drops fell from the sky and struck his face with resonate plit plats of splattering slime.

Plit. Plit. Plit.

Plat.

He jerked forward, eyes squeezed shut against the pounding inside his skull. He secured his shaking hands over his ears. The strange thick rain kept falling, plopping loudly on his head and onto the soggy, semisolid ground. He rocked, willing the pain in his mind and body away. He breathed the salty stagnant air, and with each breath became more aware. It was cold and slickly wet. No sounds invaded aside from the dripping rain.

Still rocking along to the pounding waves of rain, he cracked an eye open on a world cloaked in darkness. _Night,_ he thought. The first word to float through his aching mind was followed shortly by another, more desperate phrase. "Is anyone there?"

Both eyes now open wide, he stared into the unbroken blackness, waiting for anything to break through the emptiness. No answering, I'm here, returned, but a pair of yellow lights appeared in the darkness, followed shortly by another pair. Another set of ovoid glowing yellow orbs as big as dinner plates blinked to life closer. Eyes, he thought with a sickening lurch of adrenaline. More of them appeared, some near, others far. A sea of yellow lights, yellow eyes, stared back at him, and he wished he had never spoken, never woken them up.

The eyes were moving now, sliding forward through the boggy ground making sucking noises. His heart beating so hard that it felt like it might explode, he jerked to his feet.

Nothing was clear in his head, and he still ached horribly. Where was this place? How had he gotten here? What did those yellow eyes belong to?

He closed his eyes for just a moment, and one certainty surfaced in his scrambled mind, he had an identity. He was Danny Phantom. His eyes began to glow green. He was a ghost fighter.

And whatever was coming, he wasn't afraid.

* * *

Author's Note:

I am such a bad author. Short chapters. No beta. A bit on the melodramatic side. And I'm posting anyway. Bad bad Bridget.


	7. Our Country Tis Of Thee

**Chapter 7 – Our Country Tis of Thee, Sweet Land of Liberty**

The creatures and their glowing eyes flowed forward in an endless stream. Their soft oily flesh gave way, ripped easily apart by the energy at his fingertips. Danny shredded them in sweeping arcs, but some made it past his deadly hands. They flung themselves at him, soft, toothless mouths sucking desperately at his back and legs and neck. Were these things even dangerous or just disgusting? Their attacks didn't hurt.

Slimy limbs and mouths piling onto his back, Danny gritted his teeth and ripped at his attackers desperately. With a burst of energy he shot into the endless black sky, flying away from his landlocked enemies. So stupid, he thought dismally. He hadn't even considered flying, not until the moment he jumped into the air wildly. Free from the slimy hoard, Danny just let himself coast through the dark, putting distance between himself and the sea of yellow eyes. He flew blindly, hoping the fuzzy fibers between his ears might stop buzzing and his thoughts might clear enough to figure out where he was and what to do.

* * *

Jazz, Tucker, and Sam sat silently staring at Maddie for several long seconds. "Danny Phantom isn't a threat to Danny Fenton," Jazz choked, horrified.

"Not anymore," Maddie agreed. "I couldn't take the risk. It's a pattern I'd seen myself. The ghost boy is around Danny too much to be coincidence. The correspondence from the Guys in White just solidified my own concerns. The eerily similar names; they even sort of look alike—it's classic stalker behavior. You know how ghosts fixate."

Jazz, didn't look to Sam and Tucker for permission to fill her mother in on the situation. If either of them had said a word to stop her she would have beaten them into submission with the nearest Fenton Thermos. Danny was in serious trouble, and it was her fault for not speaking up sooner. "Mom, it isn't stalker behavior." Jazz groped for the right words to spill her brother's big secret. "They're the same person. Danny had an accident in the lab years ago. It changed him. He never wanted you to know."

Maddie stared at her daughter and shook her head. "That's impossible."

Sam raised her hand. "Tucker and I were there when it happened. You have to believe us. You have to help us. How serious is the Fenton Finisher? How serious is the Phantom Zone? How do we help Danny?"

"I would know if something like that happened to Danny. If something catastrophic enough to change him into a ghost child happened, I would notice," Maddie said. "Danny is alive. I hugged him just yesterday and he was tangible and his heart was beating. Ghosts are not alive."

"Ectoplasmic living hybrid," Jazz explained in her most clinical scientific tone. "He is alive but ectoplasmically activated. Alive and ghost. He can switch between forms. You have to see it Mom," Jazz pleaded.

Maddie opened her mouth to argue, to deny the girls and their reasoning, but Tucker spoke up, his voice scared. "Mrs. Fenton, why would we lie to you about something this serious?"



Why would they lie? The panic and guilt hit in successive waves, suffocating, paralyzing. It wasn't like her to respond to emergencies with panic, then she had never used an untested super-weapon against her youngest child. "Oh God." Maddie clutched her stomach, suddenly too nauseated to breathe. What if he was dead? What if she killed him? Who knew what was in the Phantom Zone even if he survived?

"Mom, how do we help Danny?" Jazz asked.

"I honestly don't know."

* * *

Flying in this dark space was simple and monotonous and safe. It grew old soon enough. His own faint glow provided the only light in this place, and that glow didn't extend far enough to really illuminate. A flash of inspiration hit and Danny raised his hand. He could focus the light dancing over his skin to a point, to an energy pulse. _Flashlight_, he thought. Testing his theory, he pushed a soft green energy pulse into the inky blackness.

Desolate gray land studded with warty black hills glimmered into existence for only a moment as the light flashed past. Unappealing, Danny thought with a frown. Where was he? From where had he come? Thinking beyond the immediate moment just made his head hurt.

Well he was tired of flying. Did he dare descend to the land again? Yes, Danny decided. The murky creatures with their slimy mouths would be something to engage even if it was just to rip them apart. Aiming at the horizon, Danny shot arcs of energy toward his chosen path.

Once his feet were firmly planted on the soggy ground, he began moving through the black mounds he had spotted from the sky. One after the other, the mounds shifted, bright yellow eyes appearing. Instead of chasing immediately after Danny, they stagger-slithered after the pulses of pure energy he had sent into the distance. Feeling indefatigable, he shot a flurry of blasts after the first, enjoying watching the creatures scramble.

Carefully he crept up on one of the creatures. Instead of shredding it, he tried to engage it. "What are you?" A thousand mouths opened, reaching from every surface, desperately sucking, trying to attach to him. "I am not your lunch," Danny scolded.

With a sigh he sent another energy pulse into the endless dark. "Fetch then." The creature obligingly groped blindly for the new offering.

"You aren't ghosts," Danny speculated to no response. "I'm a ghost, Danny Phantom, a ghost who protects humans from ghosts." If the nation of Danny Phantom had an anthem it would be that simple sentence over and over. Just thinking it made him feel better, comfortable, complete…well, not quite complete.

There was a depressing dearth of humans and ghosts in his current situation.

* * *

**Author's note:** I stopped writing. Hadn't put pen to paper in months. Then I kind of felt like writing this weekend. It's short but this story is not one that I'm allowed to stress over lengths, so I'm just going to post and run. Next chapter, we add Jack to the situation, possibly check in with Vlad, and spend some more time with Danny.


End file.
